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The following op-ed appeared in the January 8, 2012 edition of the Washington Post.

Ten years ago today, President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act. The law has improved American education in some ways, but it also still has flaws that need to be fixed.

No Child Left Behind (NCLB) for the first time exposed achievement gaps and created a conversation about how to close them. The law has held schools accountable for the performance of all students no matter their race, income level, English-proficiency or disability. Schools can no longer point to average scores while hiding an achievement gap that is morally unacceptable and economically unsustainable.

But NCLB has significant flaws. It created an artificial goal of proficiency that encouraged states to set low standards to make it easier for students to meet the goal. The act’s emphasis on test scores as the primary measure of school performance has narrowed the curriculum, and the one-size-fits-all accountability system has mislabeled schools as failures even if their students are demonstrating real academic growth. The law is overly prescriptive and doesn’t allow districts to create improvement plans based on their unique needs. It also has not supported states as they create teacher evaluation systems that use multiple measures to identify highly effective teachers and support the instructional improvement of all teachers.

The question today is how to build on NCLB’s success and fix its problems. Fortunately, states are leading the way. In Washington, we need to do everything we can to support their work.

Over the past two years, 45 states and the District of Columbia have shown tremendous courage by raising their academic standards to measure whether students are truly prepared for success in college and careers. To measure students’ progress toward those standards, 44 states and the District are working together to create assessments based on the common set of standards developed by educators, governors and state education chiefs. What’s more, states and school districts have adopted bold and comprehensive reforms to support academic achievement for all students. These reforms are improving teacher and principal evaluation and support, as well as turning around low-performing schools and expanding access to high-quality schools.

Unfortunately, the law is unintentionally creating barriers for these reforms. States that have chosen to raise standards will soon need to explain why student scores are dropping. Instead, they should be able to highlight students’ academic growth. School districts are stuck using NCLB’s definition of a highly qualified teacher based solely on paper credentials, without taking into account the teacher’s ability to improve student learning. And the law continues to encourage schools to narrow curriculum at the expense of important subjects such as history, civics, science, the arts and physical education. After 10 years of these flawed policies, our nation’s teachers and students deserve better.

President Obama is offering states flexibility from NCLB in exchange for comprehensive plans to raise standards; to create fair, flexible and focused accountability systems; and to improve systems for teacher and principal evaluation and support. This flexibility will not give states a pass on accountability. It will demand real reform.

So far, 39 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have expressed interest in this flexibility. The Education Department is working with the first group of applicants.

Although Congress has begun the process of reauthorizing NCLB, we can’t wait for the extended legislative process to be completed. States and school districts need relief from NCLB right now.

Congress has yet to act even though No Child Left Behind is four years overdue for renewal. Education reform requires elected officials from both sides of the aisle to come together. We can’t let partisan politics stand in the way.

One way or another, NCLB needs significant changes. Our states and schools deserve flexibility from its teach-to-the-test culture and one-size-fits-all accountability system.

Even as we work with states to offer flexibility from existing law, the Obama administration will support a bipartisan effort by Congress to create a law that supports a well-rounded education while holding schools, districts and states accountable for results.

We all need to work together so that 10 years from now, America’s children will have the sort of federal education law they so richly deserve — one that challenges them to achieve to high standards, and provides them with the highly effective teachers and principals who can prepare them for success in college and the workforce.

28 Comments

It addresses so many concerns that citizens of this country have with public education and education policy.

Why is the President pushing every student to pursue a college education regardless of how much debt they need to incur to do so or whether higher education is even a good fit them?

Why are we spending 6 figures per child for preschool (i.e. public daycare) programs so that they can be potty trained, learn to take naps, play nice etc. to the detriment of older students?

Why is it ok for advanced k-12 student to sit through years of instruction appropriate to their age without them ever learning anything new?

Why do we have laws like IDEA & NCLB which requires public schools to prioritize some students education over others?

The federal government needs to fully funded its mandates or abolished the mandates they are not willing to fully fund. The federal government needs to take responsiblity for not only passing but funding it laws or the US will continue to lag behind other countries.

I teach students who are fragile or cognitively delayed. These students are functioning at least 4 to 5 grade levels below age grade. I am being told that my students progress on the SBA will be about half of my evaluation each school year. (if this is true then the state of NM doesn’t want many special education teachers) My students are required to take the same test that the Gifted students take. This is because my state NM never bothered to make a test for the students in between the side by side students and the general education students. When the discussion of reform comes up I want to know why we are still being set up to fail with the students who have no hope of performing at grade level being forced to take the same test as the others. My students are so demoralized with this issue that they actually get physically ill over the topic of standards based testing. Isn’t there a way to force the states or exempt these students from the testing. They have no idea of how to read the test or perform the math on the test. I don’t even cover that curriculum I teach them at the level they are at and then teach life skills.
Where is the consideration for our students in this catagory.
Pat

I’d like to say Vicki that I agree with what you are getting at and things do need to be changed in the United States but we can’t make change at the expense of a student even if they are only learning how to use the toilet. We have several schools in several districts who have teachers in “rubber rooms” or in the class room who are unable to teach to today’s standards and we need to to do something first to weed out the inept teachers who at some point forgot why they became an educator in the first place so that we can make room for teachers who are receiving an up to date education and who actually want to be teaching to today’s youth and in some if not most respects actually understand there students. (run on) Lets not jeopardize the education of any students to fill the needs of other students, no child left behind means that every child has the chance to be educated even newborns if they are able to be.

I think the main point we are all trying to make is that our educational system HAS to change. The NCLB Act is hurting our schools, students and educators. How can these standardized tests show a students true potential? What NCLB is doing is stressing out students, administrators, parents and teachers alike! Students are individuals…not a number. School isn’t fun anymore, NCLB took the fun out of learning.

While I was in college I had an amazing professor that got us out of the classroom and learned class material through experiential education and reflecting on those experiences and then applying it. It wasn’t about memorization. He recently wrote a book called, “TIME FOR ACTION, Stop Teaching to the Test and Start Teaching Skills”, By Scott D. Wurdinger.

I encourage you all to take action and help change the educational system. I want my kids to enjoy learning and their school experience. Contact policy makers and have a voice.

One of the good things that has come out of NCLB is SES or state funded after school tutoring. Some of the programs offered really do work (some really don’t) but I strongly believe that the schools and students need every support they can get.

It is truly interesting when we bring our valuable system of education to debate. Our schools have been failing for too long. They still run on the mechanized fashion of education designed for the generation working to build our industry. Basically, our system of education is too old and needs a face lift for the future generations to be successful.

“President Obama is offering states flexibility from NCLB in exchange for comprehensive plans to raise standards; to create fair, flexible and focused accountability systems; and to improve systems for teacher and principal evaluation and support. This flexibility will not give states a pass on accountability. It will demand real reform.”
I absolutely love this idea. It means we don’t have to try to make a circle fit into a square hole. Yes!!! So greatful for this approach to be put in place which is far more sensible.

The school systems and politics in this country are completely ludicrous and arcane. The Government pushes unrealistic goals and numbers on the educators, who in turn push the living soul out of the students. All for the sake of a mad race to the top, at the expense of all involved. Forced to learn massive amounts of information at such fast paces that hardly any of us even recall as adults. Every individual has different learning styles, capacities, abilities, skills, and gifts. Obviously one must learn basic reading, writing, math, and comprehension. As well as a general understanding of history, science, philosophy, and hopefully art. Curiosity breeds learning, and further interest and personal skills and gifts should be recognized and encouraged. Establishments expect each and every student to excel in every little box. It is no wonder the dropout rates, and even the struggles that older returning students face. The entire system is flawed and broken all the way down to the economic climate. Start looking at systems that function at amazing and inspiring rates, become more concerned about an individual’s soul purpose and how it fuels the whole network around it. The ecosystem is not a box each and every bit of it has its own role, which makes the whole of it work. Instead of dispersing tiny little pills for the desperately unhappy, because they are held captive to the rule books you enforce. If students had more freedom to pursue their own interests and share the excitement of knowledge with others of different disciplines, perhaps we could create brand new communities that function better whilst increasing commerce and stimulate the economic growth of our own towns instead of outsourcing all the work out to other countries.

I have to completely agree with you. But I would like to add in that I have a son with Special needs in the public school he is currently in. In order for him to learn, at this time I am sent all of his work from school not only his home work but all of it. Because he is unable to learn in any environment that they can put him into. Due to cut backs in their budgeting, is what I am told that he can not get the required educational needs. All I keep hearing about is how he has to pass his EOG end of grade testing. And they ask me to get him prepared for it. Not out right saying April he must be prepared but by having me be the responsible one to get the work finished. My son can not retain information at the rate of the other 90% he retains it very slowly. And is in need of an individual teacher that is trained about his aspergers and his slow retention ability as well as the anxiety that has just started showing up which I as well as his Child psychologist believe has been created by the schools inability to help him in the proper way. Yet I am unable to home school because I am not finished with the GED classes at the local college. I am still able to teach him as long as it is the school that is sending this massive amount of work home every day. So he is made to attend school 8am-2:30pm and come home afterwards and spend 3 more hours on his work. Not Fair And Very Unjust to me and to my son. My son has no life because we have no time for one outside of education. Which is so very important but unjustly towards him at this time to ask that he do work after school as well as come to school 5 days a week and do no work… Sincerely, The mother of a child stuck in the NCLB Drama..

NCLB (and George Bush) is/are the dumbest thing(s) that the federal government has done to our education system in US history. If all of you non-educators really knew how much this has destroyed the precious cultures in so many schools, you would even see how this has done much more damage to our country than all of the wars put together (yes, pretty strong statement, huh?). Our greatest commodity is the education of our children, and the most important job sector in our country is education- it has been destroyed. Principals, teachers, students, parents, and communities are SICK of hearing about the “unacceptable” performance of our black, white, hispanic, special ed, asian, etc. kids!!! Our kids are wonderful- the government is seriously ignorant! Now, who is going to be held accountable at the government level for this ludicrous failure? Quit making schools come up with answers for failing at reaching UNNATTAINABLE GOALS!!!! The only way they are gettingaway with this is that no one knows enough about it- because they have made it so complex to understand that not even many school officials understand!!!!!!! Boy, is that scary? Please, call on the feds to throw all of this accountability bull#$%^ out door and give the power back to the local people- what a sad situation for our children. Another reason why you would consider this government a dictatorship!!!!!!!!!

So Very true, but just another sign of America’s slip into demise. Why is it that the ordinary man can see the failure of Americ’a education, but the powers that be cannot? Public school education is a joke. What is Workshop? Why are children spending so much time in school, but yet learning less.What is healthy choice. Schools are dumming down the very smart capable children.

Kyle,
You speak wisely about what has transpired with the NCLB. I have worked as a teacher and a parent in the schools for many years. Teachers are finding themselves in a dilemma. One is crucified if all their students are not proficient in most academic areas, so they are continually trying to find ways to help children score higher. These tests also place severely disabled students into the “accountability” equation. If you have 4 or 5 disabled students on your roles, you still must have them in your scores. This obviously lowers the level of proficiency in one’s classroom. A student’s academic growth is the key. Not a standardized test score!!!!
To simply stuff your kid in front of a computer and teach them at home is truly not an answer. They would probably just play video games all day. The NCLB has nothing to do with parents, other than the fact that maybe “all” parents should take a more active role in their child’s learning and stop putting blame on an overwhelmed teacher that drowns in paperwork and after hour committees (added jobs that all teachers must take on). Life for a teacher is not just working 8-3 and summers off. The hours in preparation and professional development are long and seemingly endless and the headache at the end of the day is extensive. Walk a mile in a teachers shoes Mr. or Mrs. want to be politician and then you can decide what is best for our schools, but in the mean time education should be left to the professional educators.
P.S. I would also like to add that the NCLB is also coined the NO Child Left a Dime. Education in the “classroom” is underfunded and teachers are over worked (if they want to be a great teacher).

One of my children has chosen to be educate at home, with an online school. I was offended by the, “They would probably just play video games all day.” comment. I take an active role in the education of my children. One of the ways I choose to allow her to learn IS with computer games, and IT WORKS!
Please choose your words carefully. Home educators are yanking their children from traditional school because of attitudes like this.

Sherri i agree completely!!! My child is schooled on-line and the things she does like online video games helps her a great deal! She choose to be home-schooled because the lack of teacher’s caring and it was hard for her to study and learn in their classrooms!!

I understand thoroughly about mindsets. Some of the grudges people have about education of itself we all read about everyday in the commentaries.

For all practical purposes if children are barred relationship interactions with other individuals where will they sharpen and perfect confidence? Where could they vow to their nation if there is no standard on which our banner of commitment coud be raised? Should young persons then carry their flag & commitment under their arm or in their pocket until a safe American defense could be established and protected?

I am afraid American households would not be preparing their own for what is currently in place today, much less where it is headed in the future; by this track.

Homeschooling is not for everyone, but if any out there does this thing they had better stick to it to it’s completion otherwise face their children devoured by the massses later. Parents OUGHT to *gird their children and this is a very martial dicipline not only as Americans but as a citizen who actually know the values which they esteem above all; American or otherwise. People need to know how to defend and protect themselves legally to have those values upheld under the law, but what happens when they are not upheld? Should we consider another dark age has begun to take place?

Once parents are gone you can’t say what will happen to yours unless firmly tracked to recognize the track they belong to which differs from household to household, and community to community. So many graduating seniors still yet do not have a clear picture of their community and that is horriffic. Are communities over turning so frecuently young persons go into their adulthood without a map anymore they cannot recognize their own? Wait, could our own nation not recognize their own, and if so how then could they hire misfits which have lead to the mass derailures we see out there flooding our courts worldwide?

This is where our education meets it’s citizenry, in the typical classroom. As a dual-citizen American who was forced to homeschool I consider myself a member of the growing millions of DIY citizenry taking matters into their own hands in time of National Education Emergency. With so many public servants not carrying out federal mandates prompting a return to the classroom we once more are forced to take a look at the order in with our American Standards matching up.

Of my own I could never have ordered ‘My’ my children to homeschooling but a private Roman education which was a Universal education for them, to survive and endure the direction the world is headed towards. It equipt my children with the survival skills to be able to communicate exactly what they thought, exactly what conflicted, to exactly who needed to hear it, and for this they paid the price in honour as American born.
Trained to communicate in various languages; what is seriously lacking in our current cause here on this continent somehow it appears that there would be onlye two major choices in the world for this continent: English or the Mexican Hispanic language. Do people not understand how many nations there are in the world to think that we are afforded only to simply drive to the border in a borderless state. Shotgun borderlines bring us to the seriously defunked regard for teaching and passing through what ever into the world so as to merely mention a precious few who managed honours at graduation.

I shall never forget the words of one teacher I had long ago who said: “I simply do not have the time to deal with this student, the student is teaching in my place of employ and correcting me in front of the children. I am not having it”.

Is it a real pleasure for teachers to come to teach in America when they are under paid, over worked, and overloaded administratively?

It is all avout quantity, not quality where it needs to be about quality so as not to encumber the natural course of our people, or any people for that matter!

I vowed to never enter any child of mine into any continent education that was public, because 9-14 children/class WAS not only lovely on the teacher and the students comfort but a much appreciated security. there was no need to continually tear down the moral of young little ones in front of their classrooms. if the teachers were being paid like instructors of a university you had better bet these certainly found it a pleasure to teach TEACHABLE eager children in the classroom.

When was the last time you brought an apple or some flowers to your teacher?

To say a home school student would pay video games all day must be written by someone who has never home schooled. To say parents need to be more involved is what home schooling requires. To say that disabled students are in the same reporting box as typical students is wrong. To say that we should measure student growth is what scares me the most. Who defines what is growth? Growth could be as simple as learning to spell cat or the zero times table. If a school system is underfunded I suggest you follow the money. Most school systems are heavy on the top with pay and lack a background in leadership training. The people who run the school system typically have no business background and are expected to know how to balance and run a budget. I agree the federal powers should be out of schools. Give each student a voucher and let the parents choose what is best for their child.

The “responsible” have no need to fear being “accountable.” Isn’t the goal of a responsibility to care for it and when the responsibility is fulfilled to be accountable for the way it was fulfilled? Thereby you may claim your reward for a job well done or the disgrace of poor performance.

The US Educational System does need to change. Parents need to take a more active interest in their children’s education. The System needs to recognize that not all students have the same needs and abilities. The goal of pushing everyone into a collegiate institution needs to change to one that will create educated, contributing members of society that love to excell in whatever they choose to do in life. This will require a shift in focus from book learning to one of skill learning. By “skill” I mean things like researching information, critical thinking, abstract thinking, focus, time management, money management, and the like. There still need to be standards of book learning; everybody needs to know how to read, write, add, subtract, multiply, divide, and create (artistic and scientific).
I say we need to work to teach children these skills because when I graduated from High School my GPA was almost a 4.0, but it was a joke. I learned how to take tests and since that was the majority of what my grades were based on I didn’t learn to work outside of the classroom. The classes weren’t challenging, and some of them were Advanced Placement courses! I know people will say “Well, your parents should have taught you to do the work…” Two things, I don’t think they really knew how to study outside of school either, and there was seldom any work for me to do at home because it was too simple and I got it done before leaving school for the day.

The true evaluation of a good teacher is not what she can do but what she can get her students to do. Therefore, it would be in the best interest of the students to incourage them to develop portfolios which is a good assessment tool to evauluate and measure their academic growth. Standardized test simply allos the students to regurgitate what they remember and no real proof that they have mastered the subjects.
Also, all that paper work required from the teacher is a waste of time and does very little to help Johnny become a better student, or close the achievement gap, that time should be spent teaching , tutoring, coaching etc.

I agree with the fact that NCLB Law needs changing. Our students only learn what is needed to get a “passing” score on the standardized tests. I am sick of hearing how important those are. We as parents need to make sure our student gets the best education they can get. EVERY CHILD needs a quality education, not quantity. I understand the need to assess how the schools are doing in providing a good education but this is not the way to do it. I am a strong advocate for education and tell my daughter all the time it is up to her to do her best at all times. I don’t stress out if she does not bring home all A’s but I let her know that I will help her. I also do not agree with leaving Science behind. We need to take a proactive approach to implementing Science back into the curriculum. Math is an important component that should be coupled with Science. We need to raise the next generation of Engineers, Physicians, program Developers and Educators and those two subjects are key elements. It is time to focus on Edcuating our young people and instill in them the desire to learn and lead our nation instead of instilling dread and apathy for education. Some kids hate going to school because they know if they do not do well on the standardized test they will be labeled dumb that is not how a child should feel about themselves or school. If the Government officials look at the NCLB Law from the typical American Family perspective instead of the (no offense) middle age, white male, don’t have to raise the kids , mentality then we may get the results we need to move forward.

I support Common Core Standards for all disciplines, and the development of a national formative assessment. However, as we will continue to have separate non-norm-referenced assessments, allowing states to make answering 45 to 50 percent of the questions correctly, the acceptable level of success.

Which brings me to the question of NAEP; what is the cut score for minimal success? Just how low is it?

Education reform will continue to accomplish minimal success even after the Presidents offering of flexibility, and the next ESEA Reauthorization. And in a few years we will all look back on this day and ask ourselves — if we are honest — why?

The answer is simple.

Since the late 1970’s we have forgotten and abandon the core players in this drama. We have forgotten the two most important rules for winning. One, Master the basics. Two, teams only win, when they work together.

It is the ABSOLUTELY BEST THING TO DO to change NCLB. Teachers AND SUBSTITUTES AND PRINCIPALS should be celebrated as Highly Qualified not by paperwork, but by how well they teach, how much they care about teaching, and how much they are willing to help the school they teach at reform and run.
TESTING HAS BEEN PROVING ONLY A FEW, SINGLE MINDED THINGS: namely, how well certain schools and students and districts do against each other at bubbling in bubbles to figure out who knows how to answer questions without looking at the textbook. Oh, and those kids who do well in school obviously do well on the tests, so the whole point of seeing who does well on the tests disappears, since they are a measuring tool that take up too much valuable time for learning. Students should be more inclined to be inspired to apply their knowledge creatively, rather than with tests. A new sort of event should be put in place, some sort of “Standards Fair” so that students will actually look forward to the end of the semester, as a fair of displaying what one knows due to a fun group project that is judged on knowledge and such is far more interesting and motivational than dull tests that inspire hardly anything at all.
What is taught should inspire the finale, not the finale should inspire what is taught.

In many education and scholarly circles, NCLB is referred to as NWCLB: No White Child Left Behind. Either that, or just plain Every Child Left Behind. The first two paragraphs in this article give way too much credit to this dreadful policy. Bush’s NCLB has NOT made teachers more accountable, which, by the way, isn’t even an education term – it has been borrowed from the corporate world. In education, we speak of responsibility, not accountability. The teaching practice in this country has been seriously hurt by NCLB… causing teachers and administrators to narrow the curriculum, cheat on tests, and succumb to a host of unethical practices in order to “boost” test scores. The child is not at the center of teaching, rather the test scores become the focus of attention. The narrow testable competencies have exclusively become to focus of schools, while the more important learning outcomes of citizenship, cultural competency, critical thinking, etc. have become marginalized, if not erased from the agenda. Abolish everything associated with NCLB and focus the conversations on how to best enable and allow teachers and schools to focus on the holistic development of students, without the pressures of racist Bush-era policies.

I have to say, I have worked in education for over 20 years, both at the collegiate and K-12 level; however, I have NEVER heard the NCLB referred to as the NWCLB. Why does everything have to boil down to color or culture? That is not even close to the issue here. The issues are teachers teaching and students learning. There is more than enough evidence to support how crucial parent involvement is with children and school, yet more and more parents continue to use the public education system as a “day care” program, insisting that their undisciplined and uninterested child is someone else’s responsibility. I say, give every kid a laptop and leave them at home with their parents where they belong. Offer extracurricular activites on school campuses, and save the U.S. a TON of tax payer dollars by no longer supporting and maintaining buildings that should be closed due to health issues (asbestos, lead, etc.) and paying teachers who have no desire to teach, but love the steady, guaranteed income that comes with tenure, and of course, the summer vacations.

Penny…I agree that parent involvement is crucial but as an educator you should know that not all parent’s can do this because they work two jobs due to financial reasons or the cycle of being in the system and maybe lack of education themselves and learned behavior from their own parent/parent’s. Maybe there is some truth to NWCLB. Wouldn’t it be amazing if the world was perfect! However, there are also a lot of parent’s out there that do care and work very hard to educate their kids right from wrong, good values, read with them every night and try to instill a sense of responsibility.

I sure hope you are retired from teaching! I think you are reaching when you say parent’s are using the public school system for a “day care” program and “insisting that their undisciplined and uninterested child is someone else’s responsibility”. Maybe just maybe the child is uninterested because they are only learning how to memorize information to take a test (NCLB)…therefore their behavior is that of an uninterested child (learning styles ring a bell?).

I am frustrated by your negativity. I believe that some teachers do have the desire to teach and it isn’t just about the money or lack there of! I believe the real issue is that they have lost the ability to be creative teachers due to NCLB. I have had great teachers in my past who motivated me and challenged me in and out of the classroom. My mentor was one of my college professors and because of their encouragement and willingness to work with me I was able to reach something that I never thought was reachable. I love my job working at a University teaching and advising students!

Even in the school world everything is still being blamed on George Bush. Get real. It was one of the Democratic party’s elder statesmen that was involved in its compilation and passing. None other than the revered Ted Kennedy. Read what Time magazine (not a conservative publication by any means) had to say about it:

“One of this generation’s most sweeping education reform laws may not have been passed without Sen. Kennedy’s strong support. Kennedy worked closely with President George W. Bush to advance the No Child Left Behind Act, one of Bush’s earliest accomplishments and, critics say, his last meaningful attempt at bipartisanship. Their unlikely alliance on the measure led Bush to jokingly reference “my friend Ted Kennedy” in his 2002 State of the Union speech, delivered weeks after the law was passed. Though praised by reform advocates for boosting accountability from schools, the law became anathema to many teachers and parents, who opposed its heavy reliance on standardized testing. Democrats eventually rued Kennedy’s support; Bill Clinton called it a “train wreck” and, in a 2008 editorial, Kennedy himself acknowledged its “results are mixed.” Far more popular was Kennedy’s support for expanding the Head Start school readiness program for low-income children”.

I don’t believe that it has worked either but let’s give credit where credit is due, BUSH AND KENNEDY birthed this baby.

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